


Only the strong

by withered



Series: Who's been lovin' you good? [42]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Bucky and the Soldier as separate entities, But he's also mostly pissed, He's a little suicidal tbh, I do not subscribe to that reality, M/M, Not Avengers: Endgame complaint, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, Post-Avengers: Infinity War, Post-Captain America: Civil War, Post-snap, The Soldier as a secondary personality, The Soldier looks for a handler, Tony just got back from Titan, What is Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2020-03-05 20:03:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18835780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withered/pseuds/withered
Summary: The Snap wipes out half the population, and half of Bucky Barnes.





	Only the strong

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ossifrage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ossifrage/gifts).



> The winteriron is slim, my bad!

 

It feels weird being alone in his own head.

He’s spent his life oscillating between quietly stalking prey - all footsteps and shadows and bodies dropping with confident finality - and the screams pulled from the throats of those unfortunate enough to get on Hydra’s bad side - bloodcurdling, breathless, wordless. Sometimes, he does the pulling. Other times, he’s the one it’s pulled from. Regardless, he’s never been alone. Between the targets he had in his sights, or the handlers that were charged with keeping him on a leash, the Soldier had Bucky.

His more human half, the scientists sneered, was the only thing that kept the Soldier from being what he was created to be: The perfect weapon.  

But Bucky wasn’t here anymore, and the Soldier – the Soldier isn’t that either.

Rogers’ shock and immediate disgust that the Soldier existed at all as an entirely separate entity to Bucky makes the Soldier’s lip curl in a snarl before he stills, surprised at himself.

The Soldier always thought that Bucky was in charge of those: emotional responses, _feelings._ Evidently not. Apparently, he can experience dislike and mistrust all on his own. That can’t be good, he thinks, and that’s a sentiment that at least he shares with Rogers.

The thought brings neither of them comfort, and they aren’t alone in the sentiment: "Of course, out of everyone that could've gotten Snapped, you lot dodged the bullet,” Tony Stark greets them with. He’s more broken armor than man as he alights from the unfamiliar spacecraft on the lawn of the Compound – bald, blue android of a woman in tow – more haunted around the eyes in the same way that the Soldier is starting to recognize in himself. Tony mutters, “Just my luck."

The thought has come up often enough in the journey to the Compound from Wakanda that the Soldier doesn’t think anything of echoing, “ _You and me both.”_

At that, Tony pauses, bitter scowl softening in momentary confusion and then. "Great," he exhales in a frustrated sigh, " _Great_ , just what I need, Russian Barnes without the Brooklyn twang."

And the Soldier would be offended had he not thought the same himself.

While Bucky had had to adjust to sharing his headspace with a whole other person, the Soldier had never existed without Bucky. No doubt, Bucky would’ve been better off had he survived the Snap rather than his counterpart.

He may not even try and reverse the Snap at all. The Soldier had a gut feeling that Rogers wouldn’t have, had it been Bucky that had opened his eyes rather than him. That too is yet another thing the Soldier understands: Brutality to spit in the face of morality and common decency is what Hydra had programmed him to be. He didn’t expect it from Rogers though.

Nonetheless, the Soldier is glad that Rogers brought them here – to Tony Stark – even if it was just because of Bucky – even if it was for the promise that had been reduced to the fickle words Bucky himself mockingly repeats _‘til the end of the line._

With Bucky’s history and growing feelings of resentment and bitterness towards Rogers beyond the Soldier’s near-infantile emotional range, the Soldier focuses on what he knows – on who he is: war and battle and violence. He might not be the perfect weapon Hydra touted him to be, but he is still a weapon.

The problem is that weapons require a hand to guide them, and while the Soldier would take whoever has the strength to wield him, Bucky has always been aware that few can.

“It’s why I’m the brain and you’re the arm,” Bucky had often teased.

During their time in Romania, and after the situation in the Bunker, the suitors for The Arm, as they’d both referred to it as, were many. The Winter Soldier in any arsenal has proven to be fatal to any opposing empire. Politicians, rebel forces, cartels; entire nations, had approached with the hope that they could coerce him to their service with Hydra no longer in the picture.

But Bucky reminded his alter ego that each can be corrupted, each would find a way to abuse their talents; each would find a way to fail Bucky and the Soldier both:

“You’re too suspicious,” the Soldier informed after they'd arrived in Wakanda.

“Yeah, well, when your supposed best friend uses you to justify putting another guy down, you start to look at life a little differently,” Bucky had said, and in the mirror, their reflection grimaced, their grief palpable in one blink and non-existent in the next.

They’d been corrupted, abused and failed enough. They deserved better. Only the strong would do.

Before the Snap, before Bucky disappeared, they had looked at King T’Challa: Even after they were removed from deep freeze, the triggers wiped from their mind, the king had let them stay; kept them up to date with the world and given them sanctuary and recovery. Not only did the king have the strength of the most technologically advanced country in the world and the power of the crown; he was a good man, and the Soldier had looked forward to serving him; Bucky was similarly relieved.

Everything changed with the Snap.

Except, it didn’t.

Because Rogers was still persona-non-grata. Because the Soldier was still a weapon. Because there was still someone that could be worthy.

The Soldier doesn’t need Thor’s Hammer to tell him who.

Ignoring Steve’s indignant expression, Tony gave them his back as he stalked inside. "Whatever, get in."

With the world in shambles after the Snap, the "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" were forced to come together once more, and the Soldier found himself among them. 

Even without Bucky to guide him on social etiquette, the Soldier is aware how much of a damned miracle it was that Tony let him within the same state as the Compound at all. Not only had there been the horrifying realization that  _Steve hadn't told Tony,_ but there'd been the situation regarding the superhero back alley brawl that was the “Civil War”. 

Before, during and after the Accords, Tony faced his lumps alone before the rest of the world – to take responsibility for all the Avengers were, and all the things the Avengers had done.

It would’ve been the kind of thing that would have had Tony eviscerated. His wealth would only be able to shield him so long, his genius would be a bargaining chip that could only get him so far, and yet Tony had found a way to spin the whole thing in his favor.

The Accords had made legal tender, a requirement that protected both the saviors and the people being saved.

Tony offered to rebuild the ruins, to make amends and atone in every way he physically could – even if he had to put down the bricks himself, write every piece of code by hand, and pilot the entirety of the Iron Legion alone to do it – he would. And with every nation he approached, they’d all said  _yes._

While the Rogues hid in the grounds of the palace, being openly kept under lock and key by King T’Challa, Tony was saving the world. And what was left of it.

“Friday,” Tony calls out as he enters the body of the building, “Activate Coffin Protocols.”

The looks his way by the gathered, an assortment of military personnel and other enhanced beings, are startled, and there’s a beat, a pause, a hesitation, and then a quiet, “Yes, Boss…” from above.

Around them, the room shifts and changes revealing hidden compartments of weaponry and body armors, and a legion of Iron Man suits, back-lit in blue, standing at attention.

The piece de résistance, however, is the Iron Man suit in the heart of them: sleek and black with accents in a silver-grey that look sharper and more predatory than a suit of armor has any right to be without its pilot. The only source of light comes from its chest – an eerie ghost white.

“Princess Shuri gave the go-ahead two weeks ago before she…” Tony says to no in particular.

 _“Why is it called the Coffin?”_ The Soldier finds himself asking, and it’s his turn to be the center of attention.

Not that the Soldier notices anyone else, not when the far-away look in Tony’s eyes flickers and he zeroes in on the Soldier with intent and assurance that has razed empires: “The Titan dies, or I do.”

Even though the Soldier nods in understanding, there’s no stopping his mind from racing.

Still clearly pissed off with the culmination of the past two years, Tony lets them in, arms them, gives them someone to look to – because his pain is small compared to the planet’s – the galaxy’s – he will work with the very people who’d hurt him, betrayed him, left him for dead – all for the planet – all for the galaxy – all for anyone but himself.

Tony Stark is a good man. Tony Stark is worthy.

Bucky would have approved.

And whether Tony knows it or not, they have decided on him.

The Soldier will not let Tony Stark die, that is his mission directive.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So this and the previous entry were written at the same time. I tried to put it together but it didn't blend very well for some reason ergo, this - ta-da~  
>  [As always](https://everything-withered.tumblr.com/)


End file.
